President Trump fired James Comey today. Comey did engage in malpractice over the Clinton investigation and he did misrepresent what was on the Weiner laptop to Congress. But we all know that is not why he was fired. So as America slips a little further into dystopia, we can take some solace in that fact that things are better than they were in 1919. For now.
But I come to discuss the year 2049, not 1919. Here is the new Blade Runner trailer:
There is a lot going on. But stop on second 48 and note that the holographic ballet dancers are above a rotating chyron that reads: “Soviet Happy: Product of CCCP.” Add that to the Atari logo, and it is clear that the movie is not set in our universe or our future. Kudos to the writers and producers for not trying.
Still, you gotta wonder. What would turn the suburbs of L.A. into a desert with broken freeways but leave the USSR around to make, uh, Soviet Happy?
I miss pointless discussions. Never thought that I would, but I do.
Well one possibility is a Soviet Re-Union between the present and 2049. There isn't a map of the USSR in the trailer, so if say...Lukashenko manages to get a putsch against Putin or his successor with a fellow who was willing to re-energize the Union State with Lukashenko taking the lead role...well...a few steps later, why not have Lukashenko recreate the Soviet Union? Heck he could even do it by renaming the Union State as the Union of Sovereign Soviet Republics as had originally been planned in 1991 (with that planned renaming keeping both the USSR and CCCP acronyms in English and Russian). Then you get a USSR which is still "Soviet" but not "socialist".
Other than that, I would say the next best candidate would have been an alternate history where aliens invaded in the 1980s and destroyed LA only to be overcome by a combined effort of all nations. That brings the Cold War to an end, leaves LA a desert and probably so disrupts the world economic order that Atari remains a major brand. ;-P
Posted by: J.H. | May 10, 2017 at 12:17 AM
I'm pretty sure that Blade Runner and Alien share a universe. Although I seem to be one of the few people who absolutely hated Prometheus.
Posted by: Noel Maurer | May 10, 2017 at 12:54 AM
Really? There are people who liked Prometheus? I hated Prometheus from start to finish. An Alien prequel had a lot of potential; Prometheus fulfilled none of it.
Posted by: J.H. | May 11, 2017 at 02:40 AM
remember predator is also in that universe. i need to ponder this more
Posted by: Cassandra Thomas | May 13, 2017 at 09:28 PM